“If children have interest, then education happens,” these words were said by Sugata Mitra during one of his Ted Talks on child driven education. Mitra is a professor of Educational Technology and Communication in England, and has given many lectures on technology, children, and student focused education. Mitra is most well known for his Hole in the Wall experiment. This experiment shows that if children have the interest and the information, they can learn anything.
In Mitra’s Ted Talk called “Child-Driven Education” he discusses the places “good teacher’s won’t go” and the fact that it “is where they are needed the most.” This is a sad, but true, fact about our world today. As much as we know about the world, and as much as we are globalized, there are still huge gaps in education, and the educational system. Charles Leadbeater, an English political advisor, talks about education in first world countries and what they model after, Finland, and compares it to education in slums from around the world. He touches upon Mitra’s Hole in the Wall project and calls it “the most radical experiment” in education.
Through their talks, Mitra and Leadbeater focus on the idea that classrooms today need to be more student centered and student focused. This means that we would not be pushing knowledge onto the students, but rather having the students ask questions and learn what they feel they need and want to learn. This is very different then the model we currently have set up in the United States. There are national and state standards. Teachers are expected to meet these standards and have their students meet them as well. With these standards we will continue to push students into school rather than having them gravitate towards it. In a society where standards are so highly regarded and are the keystone of our educational system, how can we do this? How can we recreate a system so that it will teach students what society feels they need to know and have school student centered in such a way that they, essentially, teach themselves?
Sugata Mitra’s “Child Driven Education”
Charles Leadbeater’s “Education Innovation in the Slums”
the hidden pineapple 
Mithras educational experiments have made me realize even more that this is the right career for me. It is the people like him in this world that motivate me to not give up on our children, To keep pushing them to their limits. I hope that people start taking his finding seriously so that learning can be fun instead of a chore to students.
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I will strive to create a learning environment that my students gravitate towards!
That line in your blog grabbed my attention. If they naturally gravitate towards our learning environment, they and myself will leave each day with knowledge that is invaluable!
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Mitra has many good points about children learning and being engaged in the process when they are interested in the material. But that leaves us with one problem, not all children are interested in all subjects that they need to be proficient in. Another thing that is not taken into consideration is that the children in the Hole in the Wall experiment had never seen a computer before. It was all new information to them, my children have a laptop, a desktop computer, an iPad, they each have their own tablets, and a giant 24 inch tablet, all at their disposal, and yet they still walk around saying “I’m bored”. That is where the teacher must come in. The students need someone to guide their learning to meet goals. Now all of this is not to say that I disagree with Mitra, just that I believe that his technology should just be an ingredient in the meal that is education.
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